Lord Mayor delivers bus review proposals to State Govt.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has delivered the details of Council’s bus network review to the State Government for its consideration.

Cr Quirk said Council had carefully considered feedback from 1560 people and amended some of the initial proposed network changes.

“In taking on this review at the request of the State Government, we identified the most common sense proposals, which we believe will help deliver an improved and more efficient bus network,” Cr Quirk said.

“At the outset we proposed a total of 80 service changes and nine route removals, leaving two thirds of the travelling public unaffected and ensuring no area would be left without a service.

“During the consultation period we received 1560 submissions and have since considered this feedback and made some amendments.”

Cr Quirk said this included revising down the number of service changes from 80 to 78, following the decision to leave routes 215 and 225 unchanged as a direct result of listening to the community’s feedback.

Some of the changes included a revision of the new route 234 from Kangaroo Point to now provide access to Fortitude Valley, the addition of later evening services on Route 470 from the City to Toowong, changes to Route 367 to improve access to the route in Upper Kedron the extending the revised Route P341 terminus to the Taigum Shopping Centre.

“We have sought to implement community feedback where possible, however I want to reassure residents that these proposals ensure the majority of the travelling public will remain unaffected,” he said.

Cr Quirk said the review still proposed nine route removals, which were based on low patronage levels and/or a duplication of services.

“I understand these may require some people to change their times of travel, or the routes they are travelling on, however some of the route removals proposed involve services where buses are often empty, and in some cases the routes only operate once or twice per day,” he said.

“We have ensured the retention of the key elements of the network, including our BUZ and Glider routes, and we are confident that the proposed network improvements will ensure passenger demand continues to be met.